Well, they don't have any particular accuracy, but they do allow the operator to generate whatever result they like in a usefully opaque manner.
The linked article discusses a large number of cases of racial bias. Obviously if you want to be biased in your hiring, but you want to hide it, a polygraph is very convenient way to manufacture some cover. (Alternatively of course, some of the police departments may have had no such intention, and merely been the victim of biased polygraph operators.)
As for the recent Supreme Court fiasco, incidents 35 years in the past rarely turn up much hard evidence. A polygraph is, again, a very useful way to manufacture something that looks like evidence. (And that's true regardless of the truth of Ford's claims. Just because polygraph results are fake doesn't mean they aren't accurate sometimes!)
In short:
Who likes them?
The people who commission them, because they can get the results they want, and the people who operate them, because it's a pretty well paying job.
Comments
They have been in the news recently in relation to the current Supreme Court fiasco. Why are they they a thing? Who likes them?
Well, they don't have any particular accuracy, but they do allow the operator to generate whatever result they like in a usefully opaque manner.
The linked article discusses a large number of cases of racial bias. Obviously if you want to be biased in your hiring, but you want to hide it, a polygraph is very convenient way to manufacture some cover. (Alternatively of course, some of the police departments may have had no such intention, and merely been the victim of biased polygraph operators.)
As for the recent Supreme Court fiasco, incidents 35 years in the past rarely turn up much hard evidence. A polygraph is, again, a very useful way to manufacture something that looks like evidence. (And that's true regardless of the truth of Ford's claims. Just because polygraph results are fake doesn't mean they aren't accurate sometimes!)
In short:
The people who commission them, because they can get the results they want, and the people who operate them, because it's a pretty well paying job.